The Commonwealth Games are an international athletic competition among British Commonwealth countries. In late 1986 the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada invited Edmonton to bid on the 1994 Games, and the 1994 Commonwealth Games Bid Committee was established. The Committee was likely a function of the City's Corporate Communications office. The Committee was responsible for preparing a bid to be the host City for the games. The bid was presented in November 1987, but ultimately Victoria, British Columbia was selected as the host city.
The 1994 Royal Bank Canadian Figure Skating Championships was held in Edmonton in order to prepare the city for hosting the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships. Though usually held in smaller cities and venues, the Canadian Figure Skating Association and the local organizing committee for the World Championships agreed that holding Canada's figure skating championships in Edmonton, the city and the organizing committee would gain practical experience and some insight into hosting a major figure skating event. The 1994 Canadian Championships was essentially a practice run for the 1996 World Championships. Nevertheless, despite being slightly overshadowed by the world event still two years away, the Canadian Championships generated a great deal of enthusiasm and momentum for the Canadian team during an Olympic year. Competition was intense with Elvis Stojko challenging Kurt Browning for the Canadian men's championship and with the woman's championship largely an open competition. 1994 was also a growth year for international figure skating in general. The controversy that developed following the US Figure Skating Championships had increased the profile of North American figure skating, and there was also considerable excitement in Canada about the prospects of either Browning or Stojko potentially winning the Olympic championship. With the increasing attention on figure skating, the 1994 Royal Bank Canadian Figure Skating Championships was largely considered to be the most successful Canadian championships to date. With a half a million dollar profit and record crowds, Edmonton and the local organizing committee demonstrated that they were nearly ready to host the world in 1996.
With a television audience of an estimated 177 million viewers, the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships was the largest international sporting event held in Edmonton since at least the 1978 Commonwealth Games. In addition to the approximately 220 athletes and 600-700 international media, the local organising committee expected that there would be 15-20,000 visitors to Edmonton during the week of March 17 to 24, with an economic spin-off of approximately $50 million.|The effort to bring the World Championships to Edmonton began soon after Halifax hosted the 1990 World Championships, when local skating supporters proposed to the Canadian Figure Skating Association (CFSA) that Edmonton be the next Canadian city to host the event. Once the Edmonton organising committee, a voluntary body chaired by Don Sprague, won the endorsement of the CFSA, it was only a matter of time before the city would host the World Championships. Nevertheless, it was still up to the International Skating Union (ISU) to decide when Canada would be next in the rotation. Though the Edmonton committee bid for the 1994 and 1995 Worlds, it was really interested in 1996: it was a non-Olympic year, but skaters were beginning to gear up for the next Olympics. Because Edmonton had been selected to host the 1994 Canadian Championships in anticipation of hosting the worlds, it was no real surprise when, in 1993, the ISU finally announced that the city would host the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships. The CFSA and the ISU saw the Canadian championships as an opportunity for the city and the organising committee to test their plans, work out the bugs, and identify potential problems and opportunities.|Following the 1994 Olympics, the popularity of international figure skating had skyrocketed to the extent that the scale of the World Championships was to far exceed what the Edmonton committee or the CFSA expected when they began the bid process for the event in 1990. Therefore, the local organising committee had little precedent to guide their planning. Building on their experience with the 1994 Canadian Championships, the local organising committee designed the event as a huge festival to showcase both skating and the city. The demand for tickets was phenomenal, with the main events selling out in 72 hours, a full year before the event. In order to keep up with this demand, the committee organised associated activities throughout the city, with the main focus of the events remaining downtown and at Northlands. The skating competition added to the excitement. Canadian Elvis Stojko was heavily favoured to win the men's championship on home-soil, and the women's event still had a tint of scandal associated with it. Once the championships ended, Edmonton had set attendance records for the worlds and was widely credited with staging excellent World Championships.
The 19th Alberta Dragoons were organized in Edmonton on 1 Feb 1908, originally as the 19th Alberta Mounted Rifles. It was renamed as the 19th Alberta Dragoons on 3 Jan 1911. The Dragoons saw service in World War I with the 1st Division, Canadian Corps. It was not deployed overseas in World War II.
In 1946 it was amalgamated with the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion, the Edmonton Fusiliers. It was redesignated as the 19th Alberta Dragoons in 1958. But by 1965, it was reduced to nil strength and placed on the supplementary order of battle. In 2006, the 19th Alberta Dragoons were amalgamated with the South Alberta Light Horse and retained that designation.
The Acme Company was incorporated by the Revillon family in 1906. H.M.E. Evans spent time as a financial administrator for the Revillon family of France and one component of this arrangement was the Acme Company Limited. The company was to have wide ranging powers, touching upon many aspects of the retail business. However, with a declining market in Edmonton, the company dropped its retail branch and concentrated totally on building rentals and the investment business.
Covered within this period is the relationship that the Acme Company had with Cecil Sutherland and the Johnstone Walker Stores of Edmonton. When Acme decided to abandon the retail business it reached a leasing arrangement with Cecil Sutherland over the rental of the Acme Building.
The post-war era brought corporate reorganization and taxation appeals. The Acme Company concluded operations on September 7, 1962 and the corporate affairs were transferred to Revillon Freres (Alberta) Limited.
The Administrative Management Society or AMS was founded in 1919 and originally called the National Association of Office Managers or NAOM. The name was changed in May 1929 to National Office Management Association or NOMA, with chapters in the USA, Canada and the West Indies. The aim is to provide education and networking opportunities for office managers. The Edmonton Chapter of NOMA petitioned for a charter February 28, 1949 and it was granted the next month. February 1, 1964 the name of NOMA was officially changed to Administrative Management Society.
In 1979 the Province of Alberta established the Alberta 75th Anniversary Commission to plan and develop Alberta's 75th Birthday. Subsequently, all Alberta municipalities received $20 per capita, with Edmonton accepting $9,827,180. Edmonton's City Council established a Municipal Anniversary Committee to serve as a coordinating organization to evaluate public proposals and ideas. The Municipal Anniversary Committee was responsible to City Council. The Committee included three sub-committees: Flagship Projects, Community Projects, and Liaison.
The Alberta All Girls Drum & Bugle band was formed in 1970, under the direction of Robert Nagel. In 1972 the band performed at the Olympic Games in Munich, and assisted in Edmonton's bid to host the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Quickly gaining an international reputation the band performed in Ireland and Scotland in 1973 and were featured entertainers at the 1974 World Cup Soccer Championship in Munich, Germany. The Alberta All Girls Bugle & Drum Band was disbanded in the 1980s.
The Alberta Association of Registered Nursing Orderlies received its charter in January 1962. Its aim has been to increase and promote the knowledge, skill, and proficiency of nursing orderlies in Alberta. The association is now part of the Alberta Association of Registered Nursing Assistants (AARNA).
The Alberta Aviation Council was founded in 1962 to promote the development of aviation in the province.